Drunk
by birthdaycake-storytime-fall
Summary: This is set after Objectum Sexual and is based around Zoe trying to deal with the fact that Max no longer wants to have anything to do with her. Zoe goes home after her shift and tries to drown her thoughts.
1. Chapter 1

**Drunk**

 **For anyone who reads 'New Beginnings' I completely forgot to write the next chapter and I apologise for that as I didn't have a lot of time as I've had a really busy week. I thought of this idea earlier today as a one-shot but please tell me if you'd like it to be continued. School starts on Tuesday so over the next 1-2 weeks my updates should be pretty regular.**

 **This is set just after Saturday's episode and is not based on any spoilers or anything like that; it's just my own ideas.**

* * *

Zoe got in her car and drove home to the flat that felt nothing but empty since the wedding as Max hadn't been home once whilst she was there. Zoe knew that Max had been to collect his belongings whilst she was staying in hospital but she hadn't seen him since the day after the wedding.

Zoe had gotten out of the habit of calling 'Hello!' to the empty apartment, as she had temporarily forgotten that Max had left her. None of the lights were on and the apartment was silent, which made it a lot worse for Zoe as she knew that it would probably be like this forever.

Zoe turned on the radio and sat on the sofa, finally able to relax after being on her feet at work all day. She was exhausted and wished for nothing but to be held by the one she really loved, Max Lindsey Gerald Walker.

After a few minutes of thinking Zoe decided to get herself a glass of wine, the only thing that helped get her through each day since Max had left her, although she knew that it was her own fault and that if Max had slept with someone the night before her wedding she would have done the same thing.

Zoe put a large wine glass and 2 bottles of red wine on the table before sitting back don on the sofa. She poured herself a glass of wine and tipped it down her throat in less than a minute, before repeating the process. After the first bottle of wine had been emptied in 10 minutes Zoe decided to abandon the glass that sat on the coffee table in front of her and she took to drinking from the bottle.

The sting of the alcohol stayed with her, the bad aftertaste reminding her of hat she had done to push Max away imagining that he must feel like she did, with her being the alcohol stinging his throat.

Zoe stood up and swayed slightly as she stumbled into the kitchen to retrieve her third bottle of red wine, knowing that it was the last bottle she had in the house and that she would be alone with her drunken thoughts afterwards.

Zoe sat on the kitchen floor, not finding the motivation to move as she downed her third bottle of wine. Zoe knew that sleeping with someone else was wrong, and she knew that getting drunk was wrong but both of them had felt so right at the time.

Feeling unable to stand up Zoe crawled through to the living room in order to retrieve her phone from her bag. Lying on the floor Zoe picked up her phone, her drunken mind screaming at her to call Max. She shifted through her contacts list until she found the name she was looking for.

After only a couple of rings the phone was picked up. "Zoe?" The caller inquired.

"Dylan, you have to help me, I've made a…" Zoe spoke, before falling unconscious on her living room floor.

"Zoe!" Dylan shouted into the phone, fearing the worst. He had no idea where to find her but he knew where she lived, and decided that it would be best to start searching there.

* * *

Dylan knocked on the door hurriedly, not expecting to hear an answer. After knocking countless times he found that the door was unlocked so he let himself in where he could see straight into the living room.

At first Dylan didn't see anything strange or out of place but after taking a couple of steps into Zoe's home he saw her lying on the floor with her mobile phone next to her. He ran towards the unconscious woman and called her name, hoping for some kind of response.

Dylan dialed 999 and asked for an ambulance as he was desperately trying to ignore the strong stink of alcohol that was obviously filling the room. Of course Dylan had noticed the 2 bottles of wine on the coffee table but he had still failed to see into the kitchen where the other empty bottle was lying on the floor, discarded when Zoe decided to call him.

Suddenly Zoe's seemingly lifeless body started moving as she opened her eyes, before closing them due to the harsh lights above her.

"Zoe?" Dylan asked. "Can you hear me?"

An incoherent mumble followed his question, letting him know that she was in need of help. He hoped that the ambulance arrived quickly and wondered why she didn't phone 999.

Zoe started vomiting before Dylan even realised, and he feared that she would choke soon. He quickly moved her so that she was lying on her left hand side, allowing the vomit to fall onto the floor next to Zoe. Her breathing was slowing and Dylan was now worried that Zoe could have done a lot of damage to herself in the short space of time after her shift.

Dylan had informed the person on the phone which flat Zoe lived in, the penthouse, so that he didn't have to leave her alone in the state that she was in, knowing that she could make herself a lot worse.

Zoe tried speaking again, but the slurred mumble was drowned out by the sound of sirens outside the block of flats.

* * *

Zoe had fallen unconscious in the ambulance again and hadn't woken up since; leaving Dylan to wonder why she had drank so much alcohol. Zoe knew the dangers of binge drinking and was asking himself if this was a one-off or if she had constantly being getting drunk since the wedding.

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 **So, that's where I'm leaving it for now but if you'd like it to be updated please let me know. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is the next chapter! I've had a very busy week and I wanted to write this sooner but I wasn't able to so I apologise for that.**

* * *

Zoe woke up and was instantly blinded by bright lights above her head. She mumbled and closed her eyes again.

"Zoe?" As she lay on the bed Zoe could hear a familiar voice, but it sounded very distant.

The question came again as Zoe tried opening her eyes again, this time she could see something other than lights staring down at her. She blinked a few times, whilst mumbling sleepily, until she was able to make out Dylan's face.

"Zoe, can you hear me?" Dylan asked with his hands on his hips and a frown on his face.

"Yes, Dylan, I can hear you." Zoe replied grumpily, not remembering how she had ended up in her current position.

"Do you remember what happened?" Dylan asked, although he did not want to remember seeing his best friend in that state.

"No, but I have a headache that feels as if I've been hit by a falling piano." Zoe replied, hoping that she hadn't caused this pain herself.

"You drank 3 bottles of wine; I suspect it was over the course of about an hour." Dylan replied, not wanting to be annoyed at the woman lying vulnerable in front of him because he had been in similar positions before. "You could have some pain killers if you want?"

Tears were welling in Zoe's eyes as she remembered the previous night and wondered if Max knew. "Can I have some painkillers, please? And…do you know where Max is?" Zoe queried.

"I can get you some morphine and I'll find Max for you." Dylan left the room without another word from either him or Zoe.

Dylan asked a nurse to give Zoe morphine for her pain as he spotted Max heading outside. The doctor followed the porter outside. "Matt!" Dylan called after the man.

Max recognised Dylan's voice and knew that he was being called as Dylan never remembered anyone's name.

Max stopped half way towards his usual smoking spot and spun around. "Yes?"

"It's Zoe." Dylan started, before Max turned around.

"She's in HDC. She drank 3 bottles of wine by herself. She could have died trying to drown her sorrows." Dylan stated simply, successfully hiding his emotions, to shock Max into listening to him.

Max stopped walking away and turned around. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Physically? Yes, she will recover after a good sleep. Emotionally? She needs a lot of help, which became obvious when she thought that drowning her thoughts with alcohol." Dylan replied before watching Max continue to walk towards his smoking spot.

Dylan sighed to himself as she walked back inside the building, unsure of how to fix this situation. He resolved to treat a few patients with less serious injuries until his emotions were under control.

* * *

Dylan opened the door to HDC, seeing that Zoe was now sitting up in bed and seemed slightly more aware of her surroundings.

"Dylan, what took you so long? Where's Max?" Zoe asked, growing bored of staring at the same wall for over an hour.

"I had other patients to treat. As for Max, I spoke to him and told him what had happened to you so it's his decision to visit you. The last time I saw him he was smoking and eating a curly wurly." Dylan replied, as he watched Zoe break down in tears before his eyes.

* * *

 **There will be at least one more chapter for this, but I haven't decided how the story is going to go yet. In the next chapter Max will visit Zoe in hospital.**

 **Sorry that it's so short but I wanted to get it uploaded and I am still trying to update New Beginnings.**


	3. Chapter 3

He took a deep breath as he stood outside the room, like he had been doing for the past 10 minutes. He knew that, because him and Zoe were married, and because he still cared about her, that he should go and visit her to make sure that she was okay. He knew that she hadn't cheated again, but that didn't stop his mind from seeing her as the enemy.

The fact that Zoe had tried to drown her thoughts with alcohol wouldn't leave Max's mind, he knew that it was because he had chosen to ignore her, but that was because she'd been unfaithful on their wedding night. The whole thing was a mess.

He pushed the door to the single room open as he saw Zoe, her eyes closed but not asleep, laying on the bed. She looked tired and weak, which made Max's heart melt.

Zoe had her eyes closed so she didn't see who had come through the door. "Dylan, go away. I'm not in the mood right now." Zoe did not bother to open her eyes to confirm the identity of her visitor, but she couldn't think of anyone else who would come and see her.

"Zoe." Max said. His voice was low as he spoke.

Zoe's eyes shot open as she looked up at Max, the love of her life, and he stood awkwardly by the door.

"You came?" Zoe questioned, almost not believing that he was actually here with her.

"Yeah, I guess I did." Max's response was without emotion, which hurt Zoe more than he realised. He was still subconsciously punishing her for her stupid mistake and she was unsure whether she could bare it much longer.

"Max, if you're going to act like this then I want you to leave." Zoe shut her eyes again as she lay on the bed.

Max was shocked as he hadn't expected Zoe's voice to be so strong and commanding, especially after the last 24 hours. He didn't know what to say or do so he walked closer to the bed and placed a curly wurly bar on the bedside table before leaving Zoe alone with her thoughts.

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 **Do you think there should be one more chapter? And ideas on what would be in the next chapter? This story was never going to be very long, it was just a short idea that I wanted to write.**

 **Thank you for your support.**


	4. Chapter 4

Zoe wandered back to the apartment alone, after convincing Dylan that she'd be okay without being babysat by him or anyone else. The past few days in the hospital had been draining for Zoe, even though she spent a lot of her time asleep and barely moved at all. The consultant walked through to the kitchen to find that all the bottles of wine were in the bin, she presumed that was Dylan, and the place looked as if it had been cleaned since she'd been there. Zoe made a mental note to thank Dylan, not just for tidying her apartment but for everything he had done for her recently.

After the rubbish hospital food that Zoe had barely eaten over the past few days she was dying to eat something that suitable, and that looked edible, to fill her up before heading to bed. The consultant opened the freezer to pull out some chicken nuggets and oven chips before standing up and getting a small salad out of the fridge.

* * *

Zoe sat on the sofa with her dinner and a large glass of water as the radio played in the background, although Zoe wasn't actually listening to what was being played. She sat and thought about how much she mad messed her life up so many times, especially with Max.

She had eaten half of her chicken nuggets and most of her chips before there was a firm knock on the door, it sounded more confident than Zoe felt. Zoe put her plate down on the table in front of her and walked slowly towards the door, presuming that Dylan was checking up on her despite her earlier protests.

Max stood before Zoe looking lost and fatigues, just how she felt.

"Hi." Max said, his voice shaking. It was now that Zoe realised Max had been crying and that the knock had betrayed his own feelings as well as hers.

"Max?" Zoe was shocked; the last person she expected to be on the other side of her door was her already-estranged husband. She stood in the doorway, unable to speak, for a while before she stepped sideways to let Max into the apartment.

Max walked through the apartment so that Zoe could close the door behind him; this place used to be his home, their home, but now Max felt like a stranger.

"What are you doing here?" Zoe asked; venom laced each word that she spoke, remembering how he'd left her in the hospital to recover on her own.

"We need to talk." Max responded, making harsh eye contact with Zoe.

"About?" Zoe knew that, even though Max was exhausted, he was being intentionally harsh to try and hurt her.

"Everything. Us." Max said, his voice wavering under the confidence of Zoe's.

Zoe went to sit on the sofa and Max followed as he sat next to her, but not too close.

Max began to speak but Zoe cut him off before he'd said anything. "Here's how we're going to do this." Zoe got her phone out and opened up the timer app. "You're going to speak for 1 minute without me interrupting you, and then I will speak for a minute without you interrupting me. We will go back and forth until everything has been said that needs to be said. Agreed?"

Max nodded, preparing himself to say what was on his mind before nodding again to let Zoe know that she was allowed to start the time. "I hate what you did to me, even if you didn't want to do it. I can't touch you without seeing his hands all over your body where mine should be, and I don't even know what he looks like. I feel betrayed and when I first found out I thought that maybe it had been going on longer than just that one night, but I know that you've been honest in saying that it was a one-night stand; but that doesn't make it any better. That will never make what you did to me, and how you made me feel, any better." Tears welled in Max's eyes as he spoke. "I will never be able to forget what you did, but with a lot of time and work I feel like I might be able to forgive you for your actions."

Zoe stopped the timer at a minute, glad that Max's first speech was over as she was uncertain that she'd be able to listen to much more without breaking down again.

"Thank you for that." Zoe composed herself before starting the timer and spilling her feelings. "I want to be with you; I've always wanted to be with you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me and the only person who has ever taken a lot of interest in me and not fallen out of love with me once you found out about my infertility and countless other flaws that I have; some which I am able and willing to work on. I was afraid of marrying you because I was afraid of being fully open to you and putting my heart in your hands, which I now realise I actually did a long time ago, and have not regretted since. I hope that you can forgive me, whether that's in Holby or whether we need to be somewhere else to sort out our, sorry my, problems. If you ever forgive me for doing what I did to you I will be eternally in your debt." Tears welled in Zoe's eyes as she spoke and as she finished talking she was crying harder than she thought she would.

Max shuffled on the sofa to get into a better position and pulled his wife in for a hug to comfort her, the one thing that he'd wanted to do all night, because without him she'd never get through all of the difficult conversations that they'd have to have eventually. Max was also crying as he held Zoe tightly, not ever wanting to let go.

The rest of the night was spent talking until they both felt as though everything they needed to say was out in the open, which made the two Walkers feel at peace with themselves and with each other. They both knew that they couldn't recover from what they'd been through in just one night and that it would take a lot longer, but the first step had been taken towards a happy and healthy future together.

 **Chapter 4 marks the end of this story, it was only ever going to be short anyway. Hope you enjoyed it. I really loved writing this story, actually.  
I have mock exams coming up and as it's year 11 all my focus will be on those for the next 2 weeks as well as college applications and personal issues as well.  
I knew that something needed updating so that you guys don't think I'm dead but I can't upload things very often. I will also update another story at some point this week so watch out for that. Hope you're all okay.**


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